PowerPoint 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual

Modifying Pictures

It's rare that you'll want to use an image file or piece of clip art as-is. If nothing else, you'll probably want to resize it or crop it to make it fit with the text and other elements on your slide. To be sure, PowerPoint isn't Photoshop, so don't expect editing miracles. In addition, your editing options are fewer when you use certain types of images (like photos) as compared to others (line-and-shape drawings you create in PowerPoint). Still, for most purposes you find PowerPoint's editing options more than adequate.

DESIGN TIME: Using Clip Art Creatively

Clip art is convenient, but sometimes the problem is, well, it looks like clip art. If you want people to take your presentation seriously, you must avoid having your slides look like you plunked down the first cheesy stock image you found. PowerPoint doesn't enforce good graphic design principles, but if you follow these no-fail tips, you can turn cheese into fromage:

• Keep it small. Try to keep your clip art small and off to one side of the slide, leaving the bulk of the space for text, as shown in Figure 9-25 (top).

• Make it transparent. Applying a 75% or higher transparency effect to backgrounds, clip art, and even the basic shapes you add to your slides lets text shine through. (See Figure 9-25, bottom). If you use clip art, you need to avoid hard-to-read-text sitting on a busy background.

• Not everything has to line up. Sometimes, tilting an image just a little results in the rakish, attractive effect ...